Stefania Yakovleva wasn’t expecting a lot from her 2025/26 season debut at the Robin Cousins Cup. After the event she said, “It was one of my best competitions so I enjoyed it a lot. Everything was almost flawless. Generally the ice was really good and the arena is also really pretty so hopefully I’ll come [back] here for Europeans this winter.”
The event also served as the deciding event between herself and compatriot Marilena Kitromilis to decide who would be competing in the final Olympic Qualifiing event in Beijing in September. Yakovleva’s second place at the Sheffield event guarenteed her the spot.
Yakovleva began skating at the age of five, after being recommended to try it by her doctor due to health problems. She was told ‘Skating will be good for me,’ it wasn’t about the sport at all.
She then moved from Russia to Cyprus in 2017 due to her father’s work, which is when she committed to the sport and decided to represent her newly adopted home in 2018. However, there is only one ice rink in the country, which is located in a shopping mall in Limassol. “It’s a small round ice rink for tourists, it was impossible to train there.” Yakovleva said.
Based on that, as a young teen, she made the decision to move to Dubai to train full-time. “We used to go to Dubai for vacation. I understood that there are much more opportunities to train: big skating rinks and other facilities. We decided to stay there for a while and now it’s been four years!”
Although now settled in the United Arab Emirates and liking living in the new city, the move at a young age means she doesn’t get to spend much time at home. “I miss living together with my whole family, my early years in Cyprus, my old coach and skating friends.”
Yakovleva described the preparation for Robin Cousins Cup as tough. “We were not expecting much from this competition because it’s still the beginning of the season. The shape wasn’t as good as it can be but I’m really happy that everything turned out as it did.” Her mother accompanied her during the event as her coach had visa issues. “She really supported me here, so thanks to her!”
Yakovleva’s short program to ‘The Nutcracker’ was chosen by her coach. “We tried to make it with some modern choreography so hopefully it did look kind of innovative.” Her favourite program, however, is her free skate to ‘The Artist‘ soundtrack with some ‘Singing in the Rain‘ sprinkled in, which was made at the end of 2024 and she was able to compete with it at Junior Worlds. “I really like this program because it describes myself and my personality.”
Yakovleva’s next competition is the Olympic Qualification Event in Bejing, where she will compete to qualify an Olympic allocation for Cyprus. “I will be looking forward to skating clean. Of course, you can try to control only what you are doing yourself.”
Overall, her goals for the rest of the season are, “To have some solid skates. To do my best at every competition, and most importantly, don’t be disappointed by myself.”
